Beach Bikes

7.5x11 watercolor using all the blues in my palette:  UB, Prussian, Midnight, cobalt, cobalt teal blue, Antwerp, manganese, peacock, ultramarine turquoise, periwinkle, cerulean, verditer, moonglow and carbazole violet.  I used a black and white printed ref courtesy WetCanvas Weekend Drawing Event (Li Newton).  The challenge was to use only blues.  Later I might go back into this with golds and yellows to warm up this island beach scene.  Support:  Fabriano 140 lb rough paper.

Late Bloomers tulips

11x7.5 watercolor on Fabriano 140 lb rough cold press paper; Daniel Smith paints.  Today's daily work allowed me to visualize several multicolored and variegated parrot tulips mingling together.  I direct painted with 1-2 applications of pigment on a water-spritzed surface, working from dark to light.  Negative painting exists in the background as well as leaves and stems.

Petunia Patch

15x22 watercolor on Italia acquerello 140 lb cold press finished today.  Using one of many petunia photos taken in April during our plein air garden trips, this one was hard to get going as it is a light/midtone with not that many darks.  I might have to go back in and glaze here and there but for the most part this daily painting is done.  It is full of discreet abstract shapes of wilted blooms and twisted leaves if you look closely.

Bird of Paradise

15x22 watercolor painted wet in wet on 140 lb Saunders cold press paper.  I photographed this lovely plant bloom while in San Diego when my nephew completed his Marine Corps training several years ago.  This was a demo done for the Odessa Art Association and was SOLD at that time.

Cairn Terrier, Couch Potato Charlie

9x12 watercolor pet portrait on 140 lb cold press paper.  His name is Charlie and is Maureen on WetCanvas dog.  She shared her references of him for us to paint a few years ago, so I named the painting Couch Potato Charlie.

Cantaloupe on Dragonfly Plate

11x15 watercolor still life of the first cantaloupe melon of the summer season.  After cutting it into slices I set some on a white plate decorated with various insects, then photographed several views for painting.  I like the lacy holes the seeds created for a little abstraction within the design.

First Day of Summer

7.5x5.5 watercolor imaginary scene of summer in a jar painted a few days ago in my hotel room.  A sprig or branch of pink wildflowers sits in an old glass jar, ready to celebrate the summer solstice.  Support is Arches 140 lb cold press paper with Winsor Newton travel kit paints.

A Cat's World

20x26 acrylic and wax resist crayon on 140 lb cold press Saunders watercolor paper, drawn from a black and white photo of my cat staring at the wall while resting on the bed.  I added funky background shapes. Some resemble sailing ships and fish.  This work is SOLD!

Regal Red Lilies

15x22 wet in wet watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper, Daniel Smith paints of red orange daylilies with an abstract background.

Zebra in the Grass

22x1 watercolor painted from one of my wildlife refuge trips in the Hill Country of Texas.  Its title is Splendor in the Grassand has been SOLD! I paint lots of zebras and other wild things but the striped guys are my favorite.

Let There be Lilies

Finished the lilies! Each rectangle is rendered in its own color combinations with none repeated and lots of mixed pigments.  A primary palette of red, blue, and yellow is emphasized in this cubist division of form and shape.  I hope it delights your senses and tickles your fancy as this is no ordinary lily watercolor! Size is 15x22 inches.

Let There be Lilies WIP

I've drawn and sectioned several tiger and daylily plants; each section will have its own background.  In this view of the 15x22 format, what you see are the almost completed flowers, buds, stalks, and leaves.  The very dark blood red lily grows in my front flowerbed and other colors are from my lily library.  I've used Daniel Smith, DaVinci, and American Journey watercolors.  I will post this work in progress with its multi background colored so you can see the difference a little color makes!  Paper is Italia Acquerello 140 lb soft press.

Coconut Crazy

20x22 watercolor on Kilimanjaro 140 lb rough paper, done today in under 2 hours, spritzing color, splatters, and water as I was adding paint.  Coconuts are negatively painted as are most of the palm fronds.  Now I want a pina colada and a trip back to Florida!

Blush hibiscus

11x7.5 watercolor on 140 lb cold press paper; Daniel Smith paints from a pale pink hibiscus I photographed in Puerto Rico.
Although this is a small vertical format, the flower really packs a punch.

Apples

30x22 watercolor on Yupo synthetic paper, Daniel Smith paints done from imagination.  This work is SOLD.

Blackeyed Susans Splash

15x8 watercolor on Saunders 140 lb cold press paper, DaVinci/Daniel Smith paints.  Drawn and painted wet in wet, this class demo SOLD pretty quickly!

Green Around the Gills fish

22x30 watercolor on 140 lb Saunders hot press paper, an imaginary school of whimsical psycho fish.  Lately I have been painting water scenes, fish, flamingos, etc. so took out this older design and worked it some more.

Boy Done Fishing

22x15 watercolor on Saunders 300 lb cold press paper; DaVinci paints.  This one is my first attempt at painting in watercolor in 1993 with Ken Hosmer at Hill Country Arts Foundation in Ingram, TX.  I used a black and white photo only and added my own color combinations.  This is my husband's favorite so it is SOLD.

Bug Watcher Cat

5.75 x 8.75 watercolor on Strathmore 140 lb cold press paper, Daniel Smith paints of Ros' cat who resembles a garden Buddha for sure.  Here he is sitting staring at a bug amongst the plants on the patio.

Parody of Parrots

30x22 watermedia that originally was only one very large vertical parrot.  I came back in with acrylic and covered most of the too busy background then sculpted out two more parrots within the large one for interest.  This painting is SOLD!

Market Fresh Flowers

22x15 watercolor on Saunders 140 lb cold press paper.  After I assembled several containers of various bulbs, annuals and perennials I set about organizing my palette to paint them on the patio tables.  There are red roses, peppermint parrot tulips, rudbeckia, hydrangeas etc.
This painting is SOLD!

Group Dynamic reworked fish demo

AFTER version, final touches added in this last step.  I borrowed a stamp that had small fish scales pattern and stamped into the blue head area with a mixed black; not much free space anywhere on this marked up fella!  Collage can be seen clearly now on white nose and mouth and large and small side fins.  The eye was adjusted and finally, I used black India ink only at random to outline shapes where needed.  In Doug Walton's famous words:  "Touch that which is most important the least, and touch the least important the most!" I've spent more time on the water area than on the grouper itself.  This was a learning experience for me as well as the class participants.  Here is Group Dynamic, 22x30 mixed watermedia, copyright Kay Smith.  Thanks to all the students who did wonderfully on their own rescue/recycling of old paintings into new works of art!

Fish Demo step 4

Now collage paper has been added to lower fin.  I chose a neutral paper with tinted pale pattern to mimic fin lines and will also add that to the lip area and to the larger upper purple fin area.  His eye needs to be toned down as well.  I've taken a sponge stamp and added bubbles in white above mouth and on up, and have carved out seaweed forms from existing lines in the original work, both under and over the grouper's body.

Fish Demo step 3

This is where it was this morning after adding gouache to the black 'nose' and lower fin; still not strong enough to obliterate it, so this calls for collage elements to be added, yay! I've gone over the water area again with more paint and have begun to shape his large grouper lips.

Fish Demo step 2

In this step, I've added latex acrylic over a wet area for the water, mixing 3 colors of paint, and can see the bottom right needs another application.  Its head is starting to resemble a puppy nose and mouth so the black will have to go!

Fish Demo step 1

I began by laying a 22x30 sheet of clear acetate over the existing work, and drawing with a brush the grouper fish outline and coloring the left side and botton with solid blue just to see if the composition would work.  In this image, I've drawn him with black Tombow brush pen and put in a pale green wash over the left side and bottom to get a feel for the water.  I will probably leave the vertical and diagonal parts as seaweed.

Fish Demo from Old Dog Painting

BEFORE
This is the awful old dog of an acrylic abstract that has no rhyme nor reason to it.  There are birds, frogs, a man's hand, a padlock, frog feet, and more jumbled lines and color that made no sense.  I have hated it since it was painted in one of Doug Walton's classes here in Big Spring a few years ago.  At the bottom of the pile where no one could see it is where it was.  I decided to do something with this mess by choosing it for a workshop demo on how to rework a bad painting, morph it into a new more attractive work of art.  After all, you have nothing to lose.  It is 22x30 on Winsor Newton 140 lb watercolor paper, cold press.  It was begun yesterday at the Palette Club class in Midland, TX.

Midland Texas Palette Club Workshop

Here are 11 of the 13 artists at my two day workshop in Midland, TX on reworking old dog paintings; there were a couple of oil paintings done also (not shown).  Some of their work was transparent watercolor, acrylics, inks, and other media.  Stay tuned for the demo that is shown here back center.  Once a month I have an all day Saturday class for those wanting to learn, and conduct a 2 hour evening class each Monday.

Hot Pink Sunflower

9 x 13.5 watercolor on Saunders 140 lb cold press paper.  It is so hot here that the sunflowers have turned pinkish red! Always pushing the norm, I decided to switch from golden yellow to this hot color, keep the background and leaves cool blues and greens and add touches of its local color yellow orange.  When dry, I splattered very large purple mauve into its center.  This painting is SOLD.

Cottage House Portrait

15x11 watercolor on cold press 140 lb paper, of a white brick and stone cottage with black shutters I saw and photographed in Tyler, TX.  Of course the added hollyhocks and porch plants were not present as it was January and a gloomy day at that.  So all greenery is imaginary.  I've loaned this cottage image to a local real estate firm for their cover art.  Now if only I'd written down what street this was on!

Frontier Couple sketch

7.5 x 8.5 ink and pencil sketch on white index paper of another artist's parents dressed in period western costumes.  This double portrait is featured on Southwestern/Western forum's Quick Draw Challenge on WetCanvas! website.  Total time:  18 minutes.  (Just edited the version as I posted earlier as I'd omitted his moustache)

Bottoms Up goose

5x7 watercolor of a Canadian goose diving for fish for his supper.  Painted wet on dry Arches 140 lb cold press paper this afternoon.  Pigments used:  Daniel Smith quinacridone burnt orange, UB, manganese; DaVinci raw umber; American Journey midnight blue, raw umber violet, periwinkle blue.

Birds on Watering Can

12x18.5 watercolor on Winsor Newton 140 lb hot press paper, another one of my imaginary garden scenes using my old metal can.  Years ago I paid $65 for the old watercan and have used it in many scenes and still life.  Colors used:  Quinacridone burnt orange, quin gold, arylide yellow, cobalt teal blue, Carbazole violet by Daniel Smith.

Seaside Shells

6 1/8 x 6 3/4 watercolor on a scrap of Saunders 140 lb CP that had pale yellow, blue, and pink wash underpainting.  I drew imaginary shells and water then when dry splattered white and raw sienna mix to resemble seafoam and water on the beach.  These small seaside themed still lifes are fun to paint and will sell quickly. 

Bluejay in the Backyard

11x15 watercolor of one of the most colorful birds flying thru the backyard; cardinals live in the side yard. This was painted on 140 lb cold press paper.